The Sports Marketing Playbook
The Sports Playbook: Winning Brand Partnerships in 2026
With the June 2026 World Cup on the horizon, the sports marketing landscape is entering its most competitive era yet. For brands, the challenge isn’t just getting on the field — it’s standing out in a sea of global fandom and fragmentation.
At the Digiday Sports Playbook virtual forum, taking place April 23 at 11 a.m. ET, top brand and agency leaders will break down their strategies for 2026 and beyond. We’ll explore how to move past standard sponsorships to create authentic, high-impact partnerships with brands, leagues, teams and athletes that drive long-term cultural relevance long after the final whistle.
We will also explore:
- How the World Cup 2026 and generative AI will change the face sports marketing
- Shifting the focus from “likes” to “loyalty” by building multi-year partnerships with athletes who own their own audiences.
- Navigating the shift from linear TV to streaming and social, ensuring your brand is where the next generation of fans actually lives.
- Leveraging first-party data to measure the real-world ROI of team and league deals.
- How AI is shaking up the sports media and marketing roster and playbook
- The power of the athlete across the sports influencer/creator economy
Speakers
Luca AdornatoFC Internazionale MilanoBrand & Marketing Director
Beth SidhuSPORT BEACHChief Executive Officer
Megan SuttileEli Lilly and CompanyAssociate VP, Media Portfolio & Partnerships
Charlie WadeVML LiveGlobal Chief Client Officer
Chris WeilHorizon Sports & ExperiencesCo-CEO/Founder
Agenda
Welcome to Digiday’s Sports Marketing Playbook virtual event. Digiday’s EIC, Jim Cooper, will set the stage for the day.
There is a reason diehard sports fans refer to themselves as “nations” – rooting along with a community of family and friends produces authentic engagements that are passionately tribal and that span generations. This session will look at how sports advertiser Eli Lilly is approaching sports partnerships with a focus on community impact and authentic engagement.
Megan Suttile
Associate VP, Media Portfolio & Partnerships
Eli Lilly and Company
Brand marketers in sport are shifting focus from “likes” to “loyalty” through sponsorship, athlete engagement and digital and in-person campaigns and activations. In this session, Chris Weil will discuss his unique approach to building brand and fan connections and share new insights on how AI can help brands unlock trust.
This session will unpack how the 2026 World Cup and generative AI will change the face sports marketing across global markets as a truly massive, and highly engaged, audience tunes across eight days in June and July.
Luca Adornato
Brand & Marketing Director
FC Internazionale Milano
Sports offers are singular opportunity for fan engagement. That passion also spins of huge amounts of data collected at every step to game day and beyond the pitch. This session will examine how brand marketers can leveraging and put first-party data in their starting lineups to measure the real-world ROI of team and league deals
AI has certainly become ubiquitous across the digital media and marketing landscape. But how is it showing up in marketing via sports? Can it evolve into a key player in engaging fans and consumers, or will it be a chalk talk like tool for brand-side coaches? This session will diagram how AI is shaking up the sports marketing roster and playbook.
Charlie Wade
Global Chief Client Officer
VML Live
With so much passion-driven attention focused on them, professional athletes competing in the world’s largest sports command a huge amount of profile and power when it comes to fan and cultural engagement. This session will examine that limelight and how it is the organic foundation for the creator/athlete across the marketing and creator economy
Beth Sidhu
Chief Executive Officer
SPORT BEACH
Michael Bürgi
SENIOR EDITOR, MEDIA BUYING AND PLANNING
DIGIDAY
Sam Bradley
SENIOR REPORTER
DIGIDAY
Jim Cooper
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
DIGIDAY
Alyssa Mercante
SENIOR REPORTER, CREATOR ECONOMY
DIGIDAY
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